US court green-lights creditors' claims on Citgo

摘要

A US court has granted approval for 17 cred?itors seeking compensation from Venezuela, including ConocoPhillips, Rusoro Mining and Koch Industries, to lay claim to proceeds from an upcoming auction of shares in the parent company of Citgo Petroleum, a downstream operator ultimately owned by Venezuela's national oil company (NOC) PdVSA.This move, sanctioned by the court on January 19, aims to satisfy compensation claims arising from expropriations and debt defaults. The narrowed list of claims, now totalling $20.8bn instead of the initially sought $24bn, follows the exclusion of arbitration awards and court rulings that failed to meet the court's stip?ulated requirements within the specified time?frame.Creditors have congregated in a Delaware court, seeking redress well over Citgo's estimated value of $11-13bn.